Testing Tiger Woods’ £50k home simulator
Once Tiger Woods is fully recovered from his injuries, the place he’ll likely start hitting golf shots again is his Full Swing Golf home simulator. It’s popular in the US among many leading PGA Tour players but has now made its way to the UK, with the first installation located at Silvermere Golf & Leisure.
We recently paid a visit and tested out the top-of-the-range Pro Series, the same 16-foot widescreen option used by Woods himself. Its patented dual-sensor technology uses an overhead Ion3 camera with line-tracking infrared sensors to immediately show your ball flight on the screen, starting from exactly where contact is made. You see accurate trajectories in real time with no delay and after every shot, a replay of the overhead view shows you your strike and club path from an angle most golfers never see.
As fun as that is, enjoyment levels go up several notches when you play simulated courses, like TPC Sawgrass. They are mapped using drone flyovers and topography charts for the most accurate and realistic experience. The level of detail is incredible – it’s as close to feeling what it’s like to play these courses as you can get in an indoor environment.
If you want to test your game in a pressure situation (besides trying to hit Sawgrass’ 17th hole island green), there’s the Showdown feature, which offers a variety of skills challenges so you can practise under pressure. Then there’s the option to practise your penalties and rugby conversions or even watch films and play the latest video games.
Given its versatility, you could make a case for Full Swing Golf being the best indoor simulator experience that exists. It comes in at a super-premium price, but that’s no wonder given its capabilities.